After the Wise Sovereign gave instructions to Little Bao, he went to a corner of the room and retrieved a frame devoid of a painting from a pile of miscellaneous items.
The Wise Sovereign turned to look at the crowd: "I’m going to rest inside for a bit. When you’re done asking questions, you can have Little Bao wake me up."
Before everyone could understand, the Wise Sovereign’s body slowly shrank and he stepped into the frame.
As the Wise Sovereign’s figure disappeared, a portrait appeared inside the once unpainted frame — a one-eyed boy sitting on a redwood rocking chair, basking in the sunshine from the window, eyes closed in a serene nap.
In human aesthetics, symmetry is considered the most harmonious beauty, whereas one eye can hardly appear beautiful.
But in this painting, the Rembrandt-style lighting accentuated the light-shadow contours of the one-eyed boy’s face, making it serene and lovely.
"Is he really asleep?" Dox looked at the sleeping boy in the painting and murmured softly.
"Of course, the Sovereign is asleep; this painting is the Sweet Dream. In the painting, a short rest can..." The one-eyed Little Bao, within the cup, was explaining, but suddenly stopped halfway through.
Dox looked at the one-eyed Little Bao in confusion: "Go on, continue to explain?"
The one-eyed Little Bao snorted: "Second Bao doesn’t let me reveal the effects of the Sweet Dream, I listen to my brother!"
"Sweet Dream? Is it an alchemy tool?" It was Angel asking, feeling that when Little Bao described the ’Sweet Dream’, it seemed like he was talking about some special tool, rather than a mere ability.
But to call it an alchemy tool... Angel was puzzled since under the gaze of the Alchemy Eye, the frame’s material was clear as day.
It was a known type of wood to Angel and not an extraordinary material.
If it’s not an extraordinary item, why did the one-eyed Little Bao’s tone sound as if he’s describing some sort of alchemy tool?
The one-eyed Little Bao continued to hum: "This is not concerning the Qingkong Poetry Room, I won’t answer!"
The question Dox asked earlier had nothing to do with Qingkong Poetry Room... Angel grumbled internally but maintained patience: "Why not ask Second Bao? Maybe Second Bao will allow you to answer?"
Little Bao said nothing and closed his eyes, sinking into contemplation.
Seconds later, Little Bao blinked open his cartoon-style large eyes: "My brother agreed I can explain the Sweet Dream to you, but I can’t reveal the effects of Sweet Dream."
With that said, Little Bao muttered to himself: "How to explain this? Talk about Sweet Dream but can’t talk about effects, it’s annoying!"
"How about I ask you?" Angel: "There’s no True Words Tome here, you can choose to answer or remain silent."
The True Words Tome was also taken away by the Wise Sovereign when he left.
No one had any objections to this; Little Bao himself was not part of any contract of the True Words Tome, so even if covered by the tome, it wouldn’t matter. At most, the effect of "answering diligently" can still work. But Little Bao could completely reply off-topic or simply lie.
Moreover, Little Bao’s case is quite special; if it lies... everyone would actually notice, so there’s no need for the True Words Tome as a constraint.
"Fine, ask quickly then, finish asking and I can complain to Mother."
"Complain? Complain about us?"
"If you bully me, I’ll complain about you. But not now; later I’m going to complain about Second Bao, who ignored me earlier."
Listening to Little Bao’s grievances, everyone had nothing to say.
Clearly, Second Bao had just finished talking to Little Bao, and now Little Bao wants to complain about Second Bao ignoring it. What kind of sibling dynamics is this?
"Hurry up!" after muttering for a long time, Little Bao loudly said to Angel.
"Yes, the first question I asked earlier: Is the Sweet Dream an alchemy tool?"
Little Bao: "No."
Angel: "Then what is it, an ability? A talent?"
Little Bao thought for a moment: "Neither. In human terms, Sweet Dream should be considered a mysterious object."
Mysterious object?! Although earlier, everyone was puzzled as to why Angel was fixated on Sweet Dream, now their eyes lit up... It’s a mysterious object!
However, in the next second, they recalled Little Bao’s earlier words: only Sweet Dream itself could be mentioned, not its effects. It’s frustrating to know a mysterious object is right here yet unable to understand its effects, that itching feeling is quite unpleasant.
"Sweet Dream is a mysterious object..." Angel squinted slightly and continued: "Is its entity the frame?"
Little Bao: "Certainly not. Sweet Dream has no entity, it’s merely a dream."
Perhaps seeing the crowd’s misunderstanding, Little Bao thought for a moment and continued: "The Sovereign once told me the precursor of Sweet Dream was a fragment of a blank dream drifting in the Sea of Void Mirror. By chance, it gathered a large number of sweet dreams and then, prompted by favorable timing and conditions, transformed into a mysterious object... the Mysterious Dream."
"It has no entity. The Sovereign was able to acquire it thanks to the help of a white-haired lady with peculiar eyes. Now, it’s stored within a special mirror world."
"While the Sovereign enters through this frame, the frame is not crucial; he can enter through any mirror surface."
Others might not understand, but Angel somewhat comprehends.
It’s essentially an abstract notion of a mysterious object.
In Culori’s records, Angel found many similar mysterious objects. For example, ’Seed’, this chaotic object is considered abstract because entering Seed requires no physical entity, nor can anyone find its entity; one simply recites the corresponding symbols to enter the disordered rhythm of Seed.
Also, the ’Heartbeat of the Lonely Joker’, its effect is that all life hearing the heartbeat would dance to it. Initially, it might seem the heart itself is the mysterious object, in truth, it’s the heartbeat that is central. And the heartbeat as a mysterious object fits the abstract sense.
Besides this, ’Growth Ray’, ’Old Dream’, and ’Echo’ can be categorized similarly.
Thus, upon hearing about the Sweet Dream being an entity-less mysterious object, Angel was not surprised.
Compared to its form of existence, Angel was more intrigued by the process of creation Little Bao mentioned.
If what the Wise Sovereign described about its birth process is factual, or was it randomly fabricated to fool Little Bao? If it’s true, maybe from there one can identify the key to the birth of a mysterious object?
"How does the Wise Sovereign know so well about the creation process of Sweet Dream; was he witness to it?" Angel thought for a moment before voicing the inner doubts.
"What the Sovereign described is the process, why do you doubt?" The one-eyed Little Bao could not understand why Angel would ask; in its memory, the Wise Sovereign never lied. Since he said so, then the process must be like this.